Opening negotiations with the EU

Commencement of accession negotiations between Serbia and the EU was announced on 21 January. This official initiation of the final round of the integration process could be a huge boost for Serbia as a country with an enormous discrepancy between achieved level of development and existing potential. However, the Serbian EU integration path is very specific and the country should experience the vast majority of advantages of EU accession during the very course of integration, as a result of fulfilling complex and demanding membership conditions.

Accessing negotiations are the final phase of the whole process, indicating that the joining agreement has been signed and that the country has been granted the status of candidate. This so-called EU acquis phase is characterised by fulfilment of the third Copenhagen criterion, namely harmonising the Serbian legal system with the law principles of the EU, embodied in 35 chapters for negotiation purposes…

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